Minutes 2011 General Assembly Sapporo

Sunday 11th September 2011, 10.00am – 12.00pm. These minutes were adopted at the General Assembly in Montreal, Canada, 27th September 2014.

Welcome The President, Daniel Sordelli (DS), welcomed the National Delegates to the General Assembly.

2. Delegates:Roll-call and introduction of voting delegates by the Secretary General and his assistant. All attendees presented themselves. Representatives of the following National Committees and Member Societies were present:

Hungaria: the delegate reported to secretary after the meeting, too late for voting.

Those present were reminded that only Delegates and IUMS EB Members can vote and the GA also needs to vote regarding the proposed changes to the IUMS Constitution. The vote will be executed by raising hands.

3.Minutes of the previous General Assembly, Istanbul, 2008

The minutes were approved. The minutes of the current meeting will be posted on the website after the GA.

4.Short presentation about ICSU by Professor Kari Raivio, Chair of the ICSU Committee on Scientific Planning and Review

Professor Kari Raivio made a presentation to the GA, giving an update on ICSU activities, strategies and new initiatives. He was asked how Biology could be better represented on the ICSU board and replied that the constitution of the 4 Union representatives in the ICSU Board cannot be influenced by ICSU. IUMS should actively propose and recruit support. It was noted that the Asian regional office was based in Kuala Lumpur and serves all Asia. Scientists from all over the region are represented in the regional office.

5.Report of the President (Daniel Sordelli)

Daniel Sordelli (DS) joined the IUMS EB in 2005 and has been involved in the fellowship committee since then. As President-Elect DS was part of the public policy committee. As President DS was involved in different international activities: policy, biosecurity, education etc. DS is confident this all will continue under new leadership. Over the last period the EB started an outreach program and so far this has been very successful. Outreach was done in both Singapore and in Bali. These initiatives will certainly continue in the future. Concerning the Sapporo Congresses, it was noted that despite the economic recession and the disaster in Japan in March 2011, the IUMS congresses has been a scientific and financial success. DS thanked the efforts from all involved in organizing the congress and for the pleasant and enjoyable cooperation.

6.Report of Treasurer (H Zeichhardt)

Hans Zeichhardt (HZ) reported that he had given financial reports for 2008, 2009 and 2010 at the IUMS EB. Chantry Vellacott had been used as Auditor and the reports were prepared with UK proper accounting standards. All reports were approved by the IUMS EB. The IUMS has both General Funds and Designated Funds, such as the accounts for the Arima and Mudd Awards. HZ explained that the IUMS income comes from fees from affiliated societies of different countries, conference congress income, and some agencies/organizations support the IUMS with fellowships and / or travel grants (e.g. SGM). Some reduction in income had occurred, due to the US National Science Foundation cancelling grant support to the National Academy of Sciences that was used to support the BioUnions. However, despite this, the finances were in a satisfactory state. IUMS expenditure was mainly on payments to the 3 IUMS Divisions, grants and fellowships and costs incurred by the EB meetings. In 2008 the General funds were US$ 207K, in 2009 it was $188K.

Following the report of the treasurer, there were 2 questions from the GA. The report was adopted unanimously.

7.Report of the Secretary-General (RA Samson)

Robert Samson (RAS): the Union is still growing. During the period 2008-2011, 7 new societies joined and the total number of member countries is now 64 and the total number of member societies is 120. Some countries like Hong Kong and Iceland did not pay their dues and are no longer members. Fiji and Colombia joined as associate members. Many societies suffer due to the economic situation and sometimes funding to pay the dues is hard to find.

The Secretariat of the IUMS is currently located in Utrecht, Netherlands, at the CBS-KNAW. CBS and the Dutch Academy (“KNAW”) are very supportive of IUMS and CBS runs the IUMS website. The site is visited quite often, however IUMS would like to use the website more. Agendas, minutes etc. of the divisions can be placed on the website. If you would like links on the site to your local or regional meeting, contact RAS. Communication and correspondence with societies was not very effective in the beginning, due to faulty email addresses but during the last 3 years many updates have been made, resulting in an up to date list. If an email address changes, please inform RAS or any future Secretary-General.

Following the report there were no questions and the report was adopted unanimously.

8.Divisional Reports

BAM. (Chair Michael Hecker). In Michael Hecker’s absence, DS reported that Miguel Vicente was elected the new Vice-Chair and Doerthe Becker the new Treasurer/Secretary. The report will be placed on the website and any questions can be sent to the Chair/Vice-Chair by email.

Mycology. (Chair Scott Baker - SB). DS reported that Teun Boekhout was elected the new Vice-Chair. And Masayuki Hayakawa was elected the new Secretary / Treasurer. It was noted that the mycology division had had a great meeting, with good sessions and speakers and was looking forward to Montreal 2014. The Division has some active COMCOF’s and hosts an active outreach program.

Virology. (Robert Lamb - RL): RL organized the scientific programme for the International Congress of Virology in Istanbul, 2008, which was very successful. The Virology Division had contributed to an Outreach workshop in 2010 in Singapore, which was received very well. The virology meeting in Sapporo starts tonight and there were 1600 registrants. The division hosts a journal and was searching for a new Editor-in-Chief. The new officers of the division would be elected at the Virology Division EB meeting.

Following the Reports of the Divisions there were no questions. The reports were adopted unanimously.

9.Report: UNESCO, IUMS, SGM Fellowships (D. Sordelli)

DS reported that the fellowship committee runs the fellowships. This was done by Yuan Kun Lee (YKL) and in the period 2009-2010, 6 fellowships were offered of which 2 were for Nigeria and 2 for Argentina. The committee received very positive reactions from the fellowship awardees.

10. Report on IUMS Awards (J. Bennett)

The Mudd award was not made this year, due to lack of a strong candidate. The Arima award went to Dr. Omora (Japan). The Van Niel Award (not administered by IUMS) went to George M. Garrity.

The available candidates (or their proxy) presented themselves and made short statements in support of their candidature: IUMS President asked the GA if there were any objections to the re-election of the unopposed positions of Secretary General, President-Elect and Treasurer. No opposition was voiced.

After the votes were cast and counted the outcomes were announced. The new IUMS EB Officers were and would take office during the IUMS Hand Over Meeting to follow the IUMS GA:

President: Geoffrey L. Smith (UK)

President-Elect: Yuan Kun Lee (Singapore)

Secretary General: Robert A. Samson (Holland)

Treasurer: Helmut Fickenscher (Germany)

Vice-Presidents: Pierre Talbot (Canada) and Steve Lerner (USA).

Members at Large: Sang-Ki Rhee (Korea) and Victor Romanowski (Argentina)

The President congratulated newly elected members. Directly after this meeting the handover meeting will take place.

12. Change of the IUMS Constitution

Stephen Lerner (SL) reported that at the 2008 EB meeting it became clear that reworking of the constitution was needed. In 2010 the EB approved the revised constitution, which was then sent out to the affiliated societies. SL summarized the proposed changes: C2, C9 (description of EB); C10 (Nomination and Election of EB), a third term was added; C11 (Terms of Members of the EB); C22 (Arrears in Dues Payments by National Committees); Bylaws section 20 (B20) – Raise fee from US $30 to US $50, Ratification.

During questions it was noted that the phrase “Institutional Memory” may not translate well, that the EB needs a plan for succession of the Secretary General before he finishes his 3rd term.

The voting on these proposals was executed by raising hands. Changes to the constitution as described by SL were accepted by the GA, unanimously.

13.IUMS Outreach Programs. Summary of activities.

SL reported that the first outreach program took place in Singapore in June 2010: it was a 3-day meeting with 99 participants and as sponsored by a $30K grant from ICSU. Feedback was very positive and both the presenters and participants all enjoyed it. Yuan Kun Lee was thanked warmly for all his work on the program. SL received the go-ahead from the EB with organizing a 3-day program in Hyderabad, India, probably in October 2012.

RAS organized a second outreach program Food and Food Safety. He approached the ICFM (Food Mycology) and ICFMH (International Committee on Food Microbiology and Hygiene) and both were very interested in cooperating and sponsoring. It was a great workshop with 10 speakers and tremendous interest has already been received from other countries for this workshop. Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand all showed interest in this program. Africa and South America are also interesting fields for this workshop. Anyone interested in running this workshop: please contact RAS.

14.Future IUMS Congresses

2014: The IUMS Congresses will take place in Montreal, Canada from July 27 – August 1, 2014. Pierre Talbot (PB) provided an update on the congress venue and preparations and reported that a website was already available www.montraliums2014.org. Members of the National Organizing Committee were introduced to the GA. In response to questions PB reported that the registration fee was likely to be in line with the last IUMS Congresses, but the final figure would depend on the economic situation. Students would pay half rate and grants would be available. It was noted that foreign nationals would need to request their visa to visit Canada a long time in advance and information was on the www site.

2017: At the IUMS EB meeting, bids to hold the 2017 IUMS Congresses were received from Singapore and South Korea (Seoul). After due consideration Singapore was chosen and the meeting will take place in July/August 2017.

15.AOB

Fusao Tomita (FT) reported that after the commemorative ceremony held in the presence of his Royal Highness the Emperor of Japan 121 people attended the reception. The local government sponsored IUMS Sapporo and the Sapporo organization received 14 million Yen in financial support. The final number of participants at the 3 congresses was 4200 and therefore the payment to the IUMS will be little over US $90K. FT thanked all for their kind and efficient participation and cooperation. FT also thanked the EB members for organizing outreach activities during the congress. All congratulated FT on this excellent outcome.

16.Notification of the new Executive Board Members to attend the Handover Meeting

Announcement: the handover meeting will take place in the downstairs meeting room at 3 PM. Apart from the EB, all new elected members need to be there and also those EB members whose terms are ending. GS: thanks DS for running a very successful office and for his excellent speech last night at the commemorative ceremony. GS thanked all other EB members that have finished their terms at this meeting and all other people that have worked so hard to make this meeting such a success.